New Challenger For Roman Reigns' Universal Title To Be Revealed On WWE SmackDown?

Who'll be next to step up and challenge the Head of the Table?

by Andrew Pollard
Roman Reigns Paul Heyman
WWE.com

With the 2021 Survivor Series now in the record books, this Friday's episode of SmackDown will see a new challenger revealed for Roman Reigns' Universal Championship.

An early promo for this week's blue brand outing poses the question of who'll be next to step up and try to dethrone the Tribal Chief of his prize - with Drew McIntyre, Cesaro, Sheamus, Happy Corbin, Jinder Mahal, Jeff Hardy and The New Day all teased as potential opponents for Reigns.

Given how the past few weeks have seen Roman's attention on a Champion vs. Champion contest against Big E at Survivor Series, that means the Head of the Table hasn't defend the Universal Title since battling Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel over a month ago. Prior to that, Finn Balor went up against Reigns at September's Extreme Rules PPV.

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Lesnar is clearly going to resurface at some point to face off once more with Roman Reigns, but that match-up seems a little further down the line right now. As such, Reigns will need something to keep him busy for the rest of the year - and one logical choice at this point could well be Drew McIntyre.

In addition to Roman getting a new challenger on Friday's SmackDown, it's also believed that audiences will get Toni Storm taking on Charlotte Flair.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.